Gallery visit TATE Britain

these are the photos I took when i went to TATE Britain and looked at the famous painter Turner and other artists from the 19-20 century

JMW Turner 1775-1851

The Garreteer's Petition

exhibited 1809

oil on wood

the poet in this genre subjected is illuminated in a pool of light, his pen poised awating inspiration, the theme was expressed in verse Turner wrote to accompany the painting

Inspiration, however has not been forthcoming. the squalid attic room attests to the poet's porverty, and his next line, according to Turner's verse, is'long-sought'

while Turner sympathised with the Romantic suffering of the poet, he has also introudced an element of satire. The paintingemulates the stel of Turner's contemporary and rival, David Wilkie

JMW Turner 1775 - 1851

Self Portrait about 1799

Thought to have been painted on the occasion of his election as an associate of the royal academy, this self protrait presents the twenty-four-old Joseph Mallord William Turner as a rather dapper and self-condifent young man a strong and direct light, perhaps a metaphor for the light of intellect and inspiration, isolates him against a dark background, withnone of the attributes of an artist- brushes, palette, easel or canvas - we are left to consider him as an individual.

very few likenesses of turner were made from life. this is his only certain self-portrait in oil

Henry Monro 1791 - 1814

Henry Monro was the son of Dr Thomas Monro, a collector and host of the famous London ‘Academy’ where the young Turner copied and studied drawing. This picture won a premium of one hundred guineas at the British Institution in 1813, the year before his untimely death. The Institution was keen to promote historical painting by British artists.Henry VIII humbles his over-mighty subject, Cardinal Wolsey. British painters had led the Romantic fashion for historicism and painting subjects from the national past. Their pictures were to influence French painters like Paul Delaroche, who were interested in the evolution of constitutional monarchy.

James Barry 1741- 1806

King Lear Weeping over the Dead Body

of Cordelia 1786 - 8

This large paingint demonstarates the new imaginative engagement with Shakespeare as literature among ambitious artists of the 1780s, Barry shows the savage tragedy that concludes kine lear, with the made monarch despairing over the limp body of this daughter Cordelia, and carnage all around. this brudtal scene was censored in stage versions of the play at the time Barry has returned to Shakesspeare;s poetic originaltext, and has painted in an epic high-minded style to match

John Opie 1761 - 1807 

Portrait of a Lady in the Character of Cressida exhibited 1800

After his death in 1807, Opie became removed as a quintessential Romantic artist, A self - taught painter from the west country, he became known as the 'Cornish wonder', this painting is an example of his practice of using portraiture to explore emotion, character and performance. the subject is the heroine of Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida 1602, a play of love and betrayal during the siege of Troy by the Greeks 

                                                    
                                                             John Craxton 1922 - 2009

 still life with Cat and Child 1959 tempera paint on board 

still life wit Cat and Child was probably painted in the latter half of 1959 on the Greek island of Hydra, where Craxton was staying with his friend, the artist Nicolas Ghika (1906 - 1994) 

John Craxton

                                                                        1992 - 2009
                                                              hotel by the sea 1946

                                                                 oil paint on canvas 

Hotel by the sea was painted in the summer of 1946 on the island of Poros. this was the artist's first Greek landscape and was completed in the studio from drawings made on the site. it was included in his solo exhibition in December 1946 at the British Institute in Athens.

                                                             

                                                            John Craxton 1922 -2009
                                                               Alderholt Mill 1943-4
                                                                   oil paint on board
Alderholt Mill in Dorset was the home of the designer E.Q. Nicholson who was, with Peter Watson and Lady Norton, one of the main supporters of Craxton in his early years. Craxton wrote to Nicholoson in 1942 'that all the best pictures that I have done have been done with you, down at Alderholt

                                                        Frank Dobson 1888 - 1963
                                                        Sir Osbert Sitwell, Bt 1923
                                                                        Bronze

                                                           Jacob Epstein 1880 - 1959
                                                 Portrait of Iris Beerbohm Tree 1915 Bronze